Page 14 of Secrets and Lies

This was not going well. It was like pulling teeth. “How’s Donna?”

“My sister is good. She’s married and having her third child.”

“Really?” Lacy’s voice squeaked. “Donna said she didn’t want to have kids. I never expected she’d have three.”

“You and me both, but she loves being a mom.” His voice had softened and held a smile that warmed her. This was the Ty she remembered. The one she’d fallen for.

“That’s awesome. How’s your Dad?”

“As ornery as ever but he’s doing well.”

“Great.” Lacy couldn’t think of a way to broach the subject.

“Was there something you needed?” Ty asked, his voice cold and dispassionate again.

Lacy swore silently. “Er… yes. Are you still an investigator at the D.A.’s office?”

“Yeah,” Ty said in a weary voice.

She bit her cheek. It was now or never. “Do you by chance know anything about the Met theft case?”

There was a long pause. “That’s right. The guy they’re looking at is your soon-to-be brother-in-law. I heard that you were engaged to a Callahan.”

“Yes, that’s right.” She swallowed. “Logan and I are engaged. Gage is his brother.”

Ty grunted. “I know.”

“Can you share anything with me? Anything at all about the case? Gage didn’t do this, and we’re just blindsided that the cops think he did.”

Ty went silent for so long that Lacy thought maybe he’d hung up on her. “Ty?”

“Yeah…I got help,” he blurted out.

“Help?”

“After you left. I got help. Turns out you were right that I had anger issues. Donna told me I was scary, and she was worried about me being around her child. She was pregnant with her first one at that time. It shook me up enough that I got help.I have learned to process things better and deal with my anger when it comes up.”

“Oh, Ty. I am so glad to hear that.” And she truly was. She’d fallen for Ty the nice guy, but Ty the monster was always lurking under the surface. He’d reared his ugly head a few too many times, so she’d gotten out of the relationship. But she still genuinely cared for him.

“Thanks. So, I guess I owe you one because if you hadn’t have said it first… I wouldn’t have believed Donna. It took me losing you and hearing that Donna was afraid of me to knock some sense into me.”

“I am so happy for you. You are an amazing guy. I’ve always said so.”

“Thanks.” He cleared his throat. “I don’t know anything about the case other than a text one of my buddies sent me at three a.m., indicating they thought Gage broke into the Met, and wondered if I knew anything about him? I didn’t get the text until I got up to work out a while ago.”

Disappointment filled her stomach.

“But let me make a call and I’ll call you back. I owe you that much.”

“Thank you, Ty. I really appreciate it. And I’m truly happy for you.”

“Yeah, I know. Thanks, Lace,” he said, using his nickname for her. “I’ll call you back.”

She put the phone in her pocket. She needed another jolt of caffeine. Her hand shook a little as she grabbed her coffee mug. Was it possible to have a bit of PTSD over a phone call? Ty had screamed at her on a couple of occasions and scared the hell out of her. She was so glad he was getting help, but she guessed that didn’t remove the residual scarring from the experience.

Making her way to the kitchen, Lacy bumped into Alex. “You okay?” she asked. Alex was standing in the kitchen area, staring off into space.

“What?” she said, frowning.

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